William and Leona
by Athena Goddess of War Tactics
Summary: This is almost exactly like Romeo and Juliet (simple version), just in the modern world. William is Romeo and Leona is Juliet and they fall in love instantaneously. Romeo and Juliet's love couldn't survive, but can theirs? Or will their families tear them apart like their counterparts? P.S. Arthur is Tybalt and Edward is Mercutio.
1. Chapter 1

Leona Walters walked through the halls of her school, her two friends on either side of her. Leona had short brown hair and pretty green eyes. She went to SVA in Manhattan and had just started senior year. Her friends, Samantha and Daniela, stopped her at her locker.

'So, Leo, where's Jason taking you tonight?' Samantha "Sam" asked.

Jason Marx was Leona's boyfriend. His and her parents set them up and won't let them date anyone else. Jason's totally fine by it, but Leona was _not_.

Leona unlocked her locker and took out her books. 'I don't know. He hasn't told me yet.'

Daniela "Dan" snorted. 'Of course.'

Yeah, there they were. Leo, Dan and Sam, three girls standing around their school. They were just standing there when the whole hall hushed.

Three guys came walking in, about the same age as Leona, in tight leather jackets and ripped jeans. The middle one, who seemed to be the leader, was absolutely gorgeous; he had messy black hair and cool brown eyes.

The middle one turned to face Leona and their eyes met. Leona couldn't take her eyes off him and neither could he. The guys kept on walking, but the middle boy's eyes were still locked with Leo's.

Soon they passed and Leo found out she had been holding her breath. She breathed and turned to Dan.

'Who were those guys?' Leo asked.

'The three new guys; Benjamin Cooper, Edward McKeever and William Ridley.'

'Ridley,' Leo hissed.

The Walters and Ridley families had a feud going. Long ago, the Ridley's killed one of the Walters, but got away with it. Ever since then, they've been rivals.

The bell rang and the girls headed for their first class, English. Then _he _walked in. William Ridley, the dashingly handsome boy, stepped inside their English class.


	2. Chapter 2

Leona's heart stopped as she looked at William. He returned her gaze with a sort of longing in his eyes.

'Ah, Mr. Ridley,' Ms. Hendrix addressed William. Then she turned to us. 'Class, this is William Ridley, he is you're new classmate.'

William nodded and, at Ms. Hendrix gesture, went to go sit next to Leo. Leo kept her head down as the lesson carried on. At the end of the lesson, she got up her courage and went up to him as he walked out.

'I'm sorry I wasn't very sociable in class, I'm Leona Walters,' Leo said, nervously.

'W-Walters?' William said, worriedly.

She nodded glumly and sighed, walking out. She met up with Sam and Dan, telling them everything.

'You like him, don't you?' Sam nudged Leo, winking.

'Well, I want to be his friend, but I guess we can't. I mean my parents won't even allow me to _see _a Ridley, how am I going to get them to let me be their friend?' Leo replied.

Just then, Jason comes up and puts his arm around Leo. Dan and Sam move away, leaving Leo with Mr. Star Football Player.

'Hey, babe,' Jason said, leaning closer. 'You know I read somewhere that Leona was the Greek Goddess of beauty.'

'That's _Aphrodite_, you nitwit,' Leona rolled her eyes and walked away.

Leo carried on her day, without seeing William again, until the incident at lunch.


	3. Chapter 3

Leo, Dan and Sam were eating their lunch in peace, until Leo's cousin Arthur walked up to William. Arthur was a big bully; he was on the football team and was really buff, he also failed senior year.

William, Edward and Benjamin sat at one table at the edge of the cafeteria. Arthur walked with his team of bullies behind him-one of them being Jason-, heading for William's table.

'So, _William,_ I saw you ogling my cousin in the hallway this morning,' Arthur said. 'I don't like people doing that, _especially _a Ridley. So my friends and I are going to teach you a lesson.'

Arthur gestured to his goons; they lifted William by the shirt and dragged him outside the cafeteria and into the hallway. Leo was sitting at a specific angle, so she could see exactly what was going on.

One of the football players hauled William up against the wall and Arthur came up to him, grinning widely. Arthur murmured something and then punched him across the face. Another punch landed on his stomach. He continued punching William; very soon he was knocked out. When he was limp they let him go and he crumpled to the ground. Arthur and his friends snickered off, leaving him unconscious in the hallway.

Leo was so angry and disgusted. She shot up from her seat and walked over to where Arthur was sitting. She slapped him and shook her head in disgust. Leo ran out to the hallway and knelt by the unconscious William, Leo sort-of had a reputation of being nice.

Leo shook him until he came into consciousness. William's gaze focused as she put his arms around her, helping him limp to the infirmary. Nurse Samuels was sitting by her desk, eating a sandwich and filing accident reports.

When William and Leo came limping in the young nurse rushed to them.

'Oh my god! What happened?' Nurse Samuels screamed.

'Arthur beat him up,' Leo said.

The nurse rushed William to a bed and began putting all sorts of ointments on him. After awhile she stood up and walked over to Leo.

'Is he okay?' Leo asked nervously.

Nurse Samuels looked worried. 'Well -ah- I can't tell you anything right now. I'm going to call his parents; meanwhile I think you should go back to class.'

Leo nodded and headed to her next class, Science. Thankfully, Dan had taken her bags for her.

'Is he okay?' Dan asked.

'Yeah,' Leo replied. 'Nurse Samuels is phoning his parents.'

'Better not let them see you; otherwise it won't turn out so well.'

Leo nodded and walked in. They were assigned partners; unfortunately Dan was with Billy Carmichael and Leo was stuck with Jason.

As they were listening to Ms. Kitty's- yeah, weird name, - instructions Jason asked, 'So, why did you help that Ridley kid today? He's such a wimp.'

'I helped him because he's actually a nice guy, unlike you; who beats up a defenceless innocent,' Leo replied coldly.

There wasn't any more talk after that; they just mixed their highly toxic chemicals and got it over with. When the lesson was finished they headed outside when they saw bright ambulance lights.

They were about to go see why they were there when two paramedics rushed past them with William on a gurney with lots of gadgets attached to him. Leo and Dan stood there, shocked. Two people walked past them; a man and woman, the woman was weeping.

Leo was so angry; she walked up to where Arthur was grinning.

'You are a buffoon!' She yelled, slapping him across the face. 'You disgust me!' She slapped him again.

Leo stormed off, walking past Dan and into her class. The rest of the day carried on normally, without any disturbances. She also decided to cancel Jason and hers date.


	4. Chapter 4

Leo woke up, wondering what had happened. Then she remembered everything; William Ridley, the beating and the ambulance.

Leo decided to wear a short black skirt, ripped skinny jeans and a multi-coloured shirt. She walked out of her attic room and went to eat breakfast. She was an only child and lived in a rather big estate with her parents.

'So,' her father said. 'I heard a boy was sent to hospital yesterday.'

'Yeah, William Ridley,' right after Leo said it, she regretted it.

'A Ridley? Stay away from him, Leona.'

Leo bent her head and looked away.

Today Leo decided to walk to school; it wasn't that far so she wouldn't get lost. She walked out her door and turned left. Samoan Green, her neighbour, caught up with her, she also went to SVA.

'Hey, Samoan,' Leo greeted the blonde girl.

'Hey, Leona,' Samoan responded. 'You know William Ridley, the new guy? Well, he's my mom's patient, so she told me what's wrong with him. Apparently he has contusions to the head and will have blackouts for a few days, but he'll be back at school tomorrow.'

'That's good,' Leo said as they arrived at the school.

Samoan walked the other way as Dan and Sam came up to her.

'William will be back tomorrow,' Leo informed them.

'Oh, already on a first name basis, are you?' Sam nudged her.

Leo rolled her eyes.

'I think,' Dan said, while they were walking. 'That tomorrow you should ask the three of them if they want to sit with us.'

'Ok,' Leo replied nervously.

They continued their day and very soon it was at an end.

Leo was about to walk off when Principal McGowan stopped her.

'Uh, Leona, can I speak to you for a moment?' the principal asked.

'Sure,' Leo replied uneasily.

'Well, the Ridley's want you to go to the hospital to thank you for what you did for Mr. Ridley yesterday. They insisted you come. You wouldn't mind if you just took a slight detour on your way home from school today?'

The mention of her family's enemies so often made her queasy, but she nodded.

Leo arrived at the hospital a few minutes later. A nurse directed her to William's ward and she soon was standing next to Mr and Mrs. Ridley.

'We just wanted to say thank you to you, for helping our son,' Mrs. Ridley said.

'Well, I couldn't just leave him there,' Leo said simply.

'He wants to speak to you.'

'He does?'

The woman nodded.

Leo walked inside the little room; it had a bathroom, a small table and a bed next to it. William was lying on the bed, looking weak as ever.

'Hey,' Leo said.

'Hey,' the handsome guy replied, sitting up and taking off his oxygen mask as Leo came closer.

'I wanted to say thank you for helping me back there.'

'No problem.'

He gave her a dazzling smile that made her weak at the knees. William gently took her hand and pressed his lips to it, not taking his eyes off her face.

Leo stood there, shocked and blushing. She was about to leave when she said, 'Tomorrow, do you and your friends want to come sit with me, Samantha and Daniela?'

It was William's turn to blush now. 'Sure, I'll ask Edward and Benjamin.'

Leona nodded, turned and walked out, still blushing.


	5. Chapter 5

Leona woke up ecstatic; she was going to sit with William today-and of course Edward and, ah, Benny-Benjamin.

Today Ms. Phelps, their drama teacher, was choosing the parts for their play, _Romeo and Juliet_. Ms, Phelps didn't take auditions, she just chose and you did it.

Leo was feeling really good, so today she decided to wear a pretty pink dress that cut just after the knee and went with a little black belt. She wore it with a pair of black pumps.

'Oh,' her mom was looking at her dress. 'I thought you only wore, and I quote, "jeans and t-shirts with sneakers".'

'Well,' Leo smiled. 'This is a special occasion.'

'Oh, is this for a certain guy?'

'I guess you could say that.'

'Well, I'm just glad that you are finally taking some interest in Jason.'

'Oh, yeah, it's-it's for him, yeah, that's who it's for, for Jason. Yeah, okay. Anyway, bye,' and with that Leona rushed off to school.

She arrived at school a few minutes later. Dan and Sam walked next to her.

'Oh, what's with the dress?' Dan asked.

'Nothing, just waiting for my part in _Romeo and Juliet_, you know. I'm hoping I'll get the nurse,' Leona replied.

'Or does this have something to do with a certain William Ridley?' Sam nudged her, _again_.

'It has nothing to do with him, but while we're on that subject, I wanted to say that I asked William if he wanted to sit with us.'

Leo had it all sorted out; Arthur had been expelled and there were no other Walters in the school and Jason didn't know of the feud, so no-one could rat them out to their parents. Leo had it all sorted, she just hoped that William did too.

'You did, what did he say?'

'He said sure, but he'll have to see with Benjamin and Edward.'

'Oh, well we'll leave you two alone then.'

'What-?' Leona was confused when the two girls walked away, then she saw William walking up to her. 'Oh.'

'Hey,' the boy said.

'Hey.'

'So, I checked with Ben and Edward; they said they wouldn't mind and it _was _getting a bit stuffy sitting at the far end of the cafeteria.'

'Great,' Leo was blushing as he walked away.

The day seemed to go on forever for Leo, until it finally came to lunch. Leo, Dan and Sam sat at their table and watched as the three boys came over to their table. They sat at the opposite side and just stared at the girls, and the girls stared back.

'I'm sorry to bring this up, but,' it was William's friend, Edward who spoke. He had a thick Italian accent. 'Don't you're families have a feud going on?'

'Well, yeah, they do, but no-one will find out,' Leo said.

'Yes, but why are you doing this?'

'Well, this feud has been going on for centuries and I think this should stop.'

Edward nodded and there was no more talk of _that_.

'So, Edward,' it was Dan speaking. 'Where are you from?'

'Verona,' he replied.

'Like where _Romeo and Juliet_ was originated?'

'Yes.'

I almost choked; he was also in my drama class.

The rest of lunch was filled with idle chatter and at the end it was full of "come sit with us again" and "that was nice".

Their next class was Drama, and all six of them were in the same class. They all filed into the class and waited for Ms. Phelps. After a ten minute long wait, she finally emerged.

'Okay class,' the old woman said. 'I will be reading your parts for the play:

William Ridley: Romeo

Daniela Aniston: Nurse

Samantha Black: Lady Capulet

Edward McKeever: Mercutio

Benjamin Cooper: Benvelio

Leona Walters: Juliet...'

From that point on, Leona didn't pay attention; she was Juliet and her family's enemy's son was Romeo. She caught William's eye, he was just as shocked as she was.

'Okay,' Ms. Phelps turned to William and Leona who were, oddly, sitting next to each other. 'Romeo and Juliet; your first assignment is to learn to dance-together. You can take lessons, I don't care- just dance together. And props director, Jamie Blake, you have to get us a few rapiers.'

At the end of the lesson everyone filed out, laughing and praising people for their parts. William and Leo didn't say a word, just walked back to their classes with their friends.

At the end of the day Dan and Sam said they had to go and get costumes for the play, leaving Leona alone. Then, right on cue, William walked up.

'So, listen we need to practice dancing,' William got straight to the point.

'Yeah, we do. Do you, by any chance, know ballroom dancing?' Leo asked.

'Actually, I do. I used to go lesson, thankfully I stopped.'

'Why? You would look nice in a suit.'

He blushed. 'So when can we practice?'

'We can practice today, I mean it is Friday and my parents won't care where I am.'

'Okay, I'm free, but where can we practice? My parents won't really want you there, no offence.'

'None taken and my parents won't want you at our house either. We could practice in the park...?'

'Uh, okay, let's go.'

Romeo and Juliet walked past their school and into the deserted park. William instructed Leo to put her hand on his shoulder and he wrapped his arm around her waist. He showed her some basic steps and very soon she was not looking at her feet and she was also rather hungry.

'Where do you want to go?' He asked.

'No, you don't have to take me anywhere,' she replied.

'No, I insist. You deserve it; for being such a great dance partner.'

She laughed. 'Ok, Mr. Hot-Shot, I know a great-not expensive-restaurant down the street.'

'Okay,' he offered her his arm and they walked off to the restaurant.

The restaurant was called _The Hang Out. _There was a fair amount of people there, all talking and laughing. They decided to sit outside, where there were no people. They sat down and a waitress came to take their orders.

'So,' Leo said. 'Tell me about yourself; the great William Ridley.'

'Okay, what must I tell you?'

'Anything; what you're favourite colour is, you're favourite animal, anything.

'Okay. My favourite colour is blue, my favourite animal is a tiger, I like old books and mythology and I really like the play Romeo and Juliet.'

'Really? You like old books? Like what?'

'Well, I've read the _Iliad,_ some Renaissance books, the plays and stories by Shakespeare. But enough about me, tell me of you.'

'Okay. My favourite colour is green, my favourite animal is the koala, I like reading documentaries and old myths.'

Dinner ended an hour later and William offered to walk Leona home. When they were at the gate they stopped.

'Thank you, William. You are a lot better a guy than Jason,' Leona said

'My pleasure, Leona,' William said.

'Please, call me Leo.'

William stepped closer to Leo and Leo stepped closer to William.

Then they kissed. It was a long kiss, where they both closed their eyes. When it ended they both looked into each other's eyes, shocked. Then William had said goodbye, touched Leo's cheek and walked away, his head down.


End file.
